In the sports of hockey, speed and figure skating there is a long narrow blade attached lengthwise to the bottom of the boots. While this combination works well for most frequent skaters, many would be skaters find it either uncomfortably difficult or even impossible to support themselves on these two narrow blades. Another disadvantage to using blades is the compromise of decreased mobility, when the ice starts to melt. In bobsledding and ice-boating fixed and steerable blades provide the lateral friction needed for locomotion while they are propelled by gravity and wind respectively.
In the sports of roller skating and in-line skating the skater also provides locomotion by pushing off laterally. Using smooth wheels though prohibits the use of these types of skates on the popular skating surface of ice because of the lack of lateral friction. An advantage of the roller skates is the stability of the wide stance of the wheels whereas the typical in-line skates narrow surface contact gives little support.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,666,169 a boot with a sole plate supports either wheels or an ice skate runner by the use of a two piece truck assembly. U.S. Pat. No. 4,988,122 separate wheel and runner assemblies are mounted to a boot through the use of tabs and slots. Furthermore the boot can be used without either assembly for walking. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,129,663 an ice blade is attached directly to the axle holes. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,193,827 a rotatable cam is used to interchange the ice blade and wheel assembly. All of the boots require a specialized boot. This invention does not require a specialized boot but is a wheel assembly conversion of an existing boot. These skates use a conversion of wheels to a typical ice skating blade in order to change their function from land to ice skating. This does not address either the problem of stability for the ice skater since there is still the need for ice skaters to support themselves on two narrow blades or the compromise of decreased mobility when the ice starts to melt. Other skates as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,618,158 ("improved roller skate"), 3,693,988 ("two wheeled types of roller skates") and 2,533,277 ("increased durability of roller skates") were specifically designed for use on surfaces such as wood, plastic or asphalt. This invention is not disclosed in any one patent or prior art disclosure. Nor does any combination of one or more prior art patents disclose all the features of this invention. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,699,390 (Cote), 5,048,851 (Alarcon) and 699,904 (White) could not be so combined.